In modern building construction practice, buildings with exteriors exhibiting masonry or stucco finishes have been constructed in accordance with several alternate techniques. As an example of stucco construction, the basic structure may comprise cinder blocks emplaced one at a time in the traditional manual fashion, the complete wall thereafter being finished on the outside by successive layers of plywood, paper, screen and stucco and on the inside as desired, often wallboard covered with a textured layer. Finally, the exterior must be painted and an appropriate finish applied to the interior. Similarly, a wood frame construction may be employed in place of the cinder blocks with the exterior and interior surfaces finished somewhat as noted above. Typically, insulation is also incorporated in the interstices between the inner and outer layers.
Many buildings, both commercial and residential (particularly in the southwest) incorporate flat roofs. The flat roofs have typically required a wooden or metal framework structure over which, by way of example, successive layers of plywood, tar paper, sealant, and rock are emplaced. The interior ceilings may be finished in a manner similar to the walls, and insulation is typically provided in the framework interstices.
The traditional construction methods are costly and time consuming. As previously mentioned, for the wall structures, cinder blocks must be manually laid one by one, and the wooden framework must be assembled, either on site or in a prefabrication plant, merely in order to reach the stage of construction at which attention can be directed to completing the outer and inner surfaces. A problem particularly associated with flat roof construction is that the load bearing capacity is somewhat limited such that vertical columns or walls must be provided on fairly close spacings in order to insure the presence of sufficient load bearing capacity to provide long term support for the roof's self weight as well as machinery, such as air conditioning systems and the like, which may be situated on the roof and also, in some structures, to permit routine access to the roof as an extention of the living environment.
Those skilled in the construction arts will therefore appreciate the desirability of realizing preassembled wall and/or flat roof panels which are relatively lightweight, are very strong, are very well insulated and, in the case of roof panels, are able to span relatively long horizontal distances without the provision of intermediate vertical load bearing structures. Further, it will be additionally appreciated by those skilled in the art that it would be highly desirable to provide such panels which require very little or no further finishing to the exterior and/or interior surfaces to complete the structure.